


New Traditions

by snowflakeofdestruction



Series: Family Matters [7]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Fluff, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Hanukkah, Hanukkah Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28081320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowflakeofdestruction/pseuds/snowflakeofdestruction
Summary: Axel calls his best friend, Isa, in a panic, because Roxas bought candles that don't fit in the menorah and it could ruin their kids' first Hanukkah.
Relationships: axel/roxas since they are married but it's not about them
Series: Family Matters [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020523
Kudos: 3





	New Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> This can easily be read as canonverse, but, in order to avoid the debate of how Judaism in the Kingdom Hearts universe works, I made sure it can easily be read as modern/real world au. At least I tried to take out all the references to magic, keybearing and such other than one “another world” that could be hyperbole. So, depending on how caught up your mind gets in such details, you can enjoy this however you like without needing to analyze too hard.

Isa had meant to visit sooner. He’d arm-wrestled Xion for the right to be godfather, despite having mixed feelings on the tradition of godparents itself. He’d helped Axel build the cribs when his best friend had insisted on surprising Roxas and setting up the nursery while he was at work. Even before that, Isa had been there, offering Axel advice and helping him search his heart when Roxas had brought up the topic of children and Axel wasn’t yet sure if he was ready. Granted, Isa couldn’t take any credit for bringing him to a revelation. Apparently, it had been babysitting Sora and Riku’s son that had triggered something–though from how he’d told the story of the night, Isa had been expecting Axel to say it had triggered him to seek qualified treatment for when PTSD manifested instead of helping him decide he did want to start looking into options for parenthood. Isa had been involved since the beginning, but initial reasons of delaying a visit so he didn’t look pushy wanting to horn in those first few weeks Axel and Roxas were adjusting to being new parents then bled into getting the flu and wanting to wait until he was better, which then led to other delays caused by busy schedules and distance that needed to be traveled mixed with seeming lessening need with pictures and video calls shared and gifts already sent. So the trip waited until convenient time and additional reason.

“Roxas bought Shabbat candles, and they are too thick to fit into the menorah!” was not a good reason, even when followed by a compelling, wailed, “You need to help me, Isa!”

Isa opted for reason. “You have to have some way of transporting the girls, I’d imagine. You brought them home from the hospital, did you not? Go to the store and get some candles, or have Roxas pick them up. You aren’t going to light the candle or say the blessings without him, are you?”

“Well, no, but what if he picks up the wrong ones again and then the first night of the twins’ first Hanukkah is ruined?”

Isa refrained from repeating that his hysterical best friend could go to the store himself, but he did go for the penetrating question, “And how come after years Roxas doesn’t know what size candles the menorah takes?”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long moment, before the confession came, already more annoyed than sheepish, “Because we don’t usually celebrate Hanukkah or any of the Jewish holidays, really, and the menorah was in storage–apparently without any candles stored with it– but that’s not the point.”

“And why exactly not?” Isa prodded. He aimed for a slightly gentler tone the moment after. “I am just trying to help you keep perspective. It’s good you want to get back to your roots, but, if Hanukkah has never been important to you before, you can allow yourself to…”

Axel cut him off, “We have kids now, there is a giant Christmas tree in my living room, and they love it!”

“It’s just because of the lights,” Isa explained, though he was already looking for his keys to leave. 

“Which is why I need some lights! Please! They are too small to feed them sufganiyot this year. Those jelly donuts are my ace! I need something! You can have all the latkes you can eat and you get to see your adorable godchildren and pinch their little toes.”

“Why would I want to pinch toes?” 

“You haven’t seen their toes yet. You’re going to want to pinch their toes.”

“Just tell me what size the candleholders in your menorah are.”

“Menorah sized.”

There were a few other bumps and some travel time, but it was all worth it when Isa saw the girls. Red faces only set off from the fine hair that covered their heads by a few shades, kicking feet that tried to pedal through the air, and the tiniest fingers and toes that he found that he did want to pinch after all. They were no less or more attractive than any other babies he’d seen, objectively, but he felt his chest swell with love as he presented a finger to the one on the left and she wrapped a tiny fist around it to shake hands, while the one of the right widened her eyes in what was surely just reflex but felt like awe that recognized this was a momentous meeting. It wasn’t that he hadn’t loved them before knowing them or just from pictures and video, but there was something deeper triggered face to face, a solidifying of the bond and the brain fully processing them as real.

“You two are perfect. Hello, I’m your Uncle Isa.” He’d introduced himself on video calls, but they wouldn’t remember at this age. “Yes, that’s right. If there is ever anything you need, you can call me.” Delivering Hanukkah candles from another planet was nowhere near the length he was now willing to go from one glance. “I love you, girls.” 

He took back his finger and looked toward Axel, who seemed far too knowing and smug, assured that whoever laid eyes on the twins would immediately swear undying devotion, and also want to pinch their feet. “Chag Sameach.”

“Chag Sameach.”

“Uncle” Isa became a fixture at many occasions, but always Hanukkah, bringing candles as a running joke turned tradition. There were gifts too, sometimes, though usually after lectures that Hanukkah is not supposed to be a holiday centered around gifts–which backfired as he was typically tackled by two small missiles with the assistance of one or both fathers and shaken down for coins and chocolate in addition to gifts. He treated dreidel as a new revelation and played competitively until the year the girls informed him and their equally overeager fathers that they had outgrown it (Axel protested that nobody outgrew gelt through a mouth full of chocolate that proved his point), and amassed a collection of crayon drawings of icons of the season, though, after a few years, he wasn’t able to hold back the constructive critique that, while their menorahs were lovely, they weren’t kosher unless the branching candles were even (Dulce started using a ruler to help her. Salena started drawing lines of dragons breathing fire to represent lights). 

There would have been other ways he would have been drawn into the family, he was sure, but Isa would always be thankful, Roxas once bought the wrong candles.


End file.
